From fancy costumes to brutal battles: New exhibition looks at a pirates life

Pirates, the fancy-dressed rum-drinking parrot-keeping seafarers of old are, as a new exhibition shows, nothing of the sort.
Aptly located at the National Maritime Museum, the exhibition tries to pull the eyepatch back and shine a light on the reality of the pirate’s life — short and brutal but, if you were lucky, could make a person incredibly rich.Maybe to ease you in a bit, it opens with the fantasy before getting into the blood and guts proper.
Although piracy is as old as sailin